Athens Health Clinic: Dr Dunston's Children

A little clinic that has made a difference (video)

Dr. Martha Cottrell was so eager to practice in Athens’ first community clinic for the poor that she volunteered for the job before the clinic even existed. A product of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Model Cities initiative, one of the Great Society programs introduced in the 1960s to reduce poverty and violence in urban areas,…

Pay cut averted for Medicaid, PeachCare

Pay cut averted for Medicaid, PeachCare

Doctors, dentists and other health care providers have been spared a 0.5 percent cut in payment for treating Medicaid and PeachCare patients. The board of the Department of Community Health adopted a resolution Thursday rescinding the reduction in reimbursement, which was projected to save the state $13.9 million annually. The cut had not yet taken…

Flu vaccination rates rise among kids

Flu vaccination rates rise among kids

More people are getting vaccinated in hopes of protecting themselves against the flu, according to the CDC. The growth is strongest among children, the Wall Street Journal reports.

WellCare picks new chief for Georgia

WellCare picks new chief for Georgia

Tampa-based WellCare Health Plans announced Wednesday a new president for its Georgia operation. The company’s naming of David J. McNichols comes as a consulting firm for the state is evaluating the current system of delivering care to Medicaid and PeachCare beneficiaries in Georgia. WellCare has part of that multibillion-dollar business, along with two other managed…

Kids’ mental health programs still lag in Ga.

Kids’ mental health programs still lag in Ga.

It has been acclaimed as a national model for other states. Last year’s settlement agreement between Georgia and federal officials over improving the care of people with mental illnesses and developmental disabilities has won widespread praise from consumer advocacy groups, both here and nationally. But the pact with the U.S. Justice Department has one major…

Commentary: A tribute to Dr. Paul Fernhoff

Commentary: A tribute to Dr. Paul Fernhoff

Paul Fernhoff, who passed away late last month, is remembered as a legendary physician who helped build the state’s newborn screening program for genetic disorders. He was a geneticist whom Georgia physicians relied on for help with children who had one of those conditions, says Dr.  Bob  Wiskind, an Atlanta pediatrician who is vice president…

Remembering a brilliant and devoted doctor

Remembering a brilliant and devoted doctor

Recently the Georgia pediatric community was shocked by the sudden death of Dr. Paul Fernhoff. He was a fixture in genetics at Emory, in metro Atlanta and throughout the state. For more than 30 years, he was the geneticist upon whom so many relied. He was unfailingly kind, courteous and in good spirits. Paul was…

Atlanta Community Food Bank

Georgia food banks strained with more in need

A new type of person has been requesting food at the Decatur Cooperative Ministry: professionals. They include teachers, paralegals, even some of the nonprofit’s own former volunteers, says Cliff Richards, program manager of Project Take Charge, part of the Decatur organization. “In the last year and a half, I’ve seen a real demographic shift,’’ Richards…

State follows Alabama in kids’ plan switch

State follows Alabama in kids’ plan switch

Georgia will soon join a handful of other states in a voluntary switch of thousands of children now covered by a state employee health plan into a federally funded insurance program for kids in lower-income families. A spokesman for the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said this week that the agency has approved…